196 FLOWERS OF WASTE PLACES, ETC. 



The Musk Thistle is provided with abundant threadlike pappus to 

 assist in the dispersal of the achenes by the wind. 



The Musk Thistle is a sand-loving plant, fond of sand soil, and 

 is abundant on Great Chalky Boulder Clay and Marlstone, which 

 afford arenaceous and somewhat chalky subsoils. It occurs also on 

 limestones commonly and chalk. 



A fungus, Bremia lactuca, is found on the leaves of this and other 

 thistles. The beetles Psylliodes chalcomera, Sphteroderma testacea, 

 Rhinocyllus latirostris, Lepidoptera, Painted Lady (Pyrameis cardui}, 

 Grapholitha scutulana, a Hemipterous insect, Monantkia cardui, and 

 the flies Cheilosia cynocephala, Uropkora solstitialis, feed on this plant. 



Carduus, Pliny, is Latin for thistle, and the second Latin name 

 refers to its nodding heads. 



This plant is called Queen Ann's Thrissel, Bank, Buck, Musk, and 

 Scotch Thistle. It is called Musk Thistle because of its scent. 



To divine who loved her most, a young woman took three or four 

 heads of thistles, cut off their points, and assigned to each thistle the 

 name of an admirer, and laid them under her pillow. The thistle which 

 first put forth a fresh sprout denoted the man who loved her most. It is 

 lucky to dream of thistles, and to be surrounded by them is propitious, 

 foretelling one will have before long some pleasant intelligence. It was 

 sacred to Thor and worn about the body, and said to be useful in 

 healing. The dried flowers have been used to curdle milk. The seeds 

 are used as bird-seed. 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



169. Carduus nutans, L. Stem single, grooved, winged, leaves 

 lanceolate, spinous, decurrent, downy, flowers purple, red, in drooping 

 heads, solitary, scales tapered to a rigid point, cottony, the outer ones 

 recurved, pappus rough. 



Spear Thistle (Cnicus lanceolatus, Willd.) 



Unlike the Musk Thistle the Spear Thistle is found in Interglacial 

 beds in Sussex, and Neolithic beds at Edinburgh and in Fife. It is 

 now a plant of the North Temperate Zone, found in Europe, N. Africa, 

 Siberia, and it is introduced in N. America. In Great Britain it is 

 universally common. 



The Spear Thistle is found on waste ground in or near villages and 

 towns, about houses or farmyards. But it is also widely dispersed else- 

 where, growing in fields and meadows, on upland pastures and hillsides, 

 and in valleys. It is a familiar sight with other thistles by the wayside. 



